This Week’s #HCWC #WCW: Shirley Chisholm

We’re celebrating this week’s woman crush, Shirley Chisholm as part of Black History Month. Shirley was the first African American woman elected to Congress, where she represented the 12th District of New York (which includes parts of Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan). When she was placed on the Agriculture committee, one that was not any of her choices, she decided to stand up for herself and stated her case to the Democratic caucus, who replaced her to the Veterans’ Affairs committee. Shirley did not take no for an answer.

In the 1972 presidential election, she was the first woman to run for the Democratic ticket, as well as the first black candidate for President. Though she paved the way for both of the 2008 Democratic frontrunners, President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, Chisholm actually didn’t like that the attention that her campaign received was because she was a “first” or that it was a “symbolic” moment. Instead, sticking true to her constituents and the beliefs she held dearly (her slogan was “Unbought and Unbossed”), she aspired to be seen as a “real, viable candidate.”